Autonomous Prognostics and Health Management (APHM)

The objective of this paper is to show how PHM concepts can be included in the design of an autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) and in doing so, provide effective diagnostic/prognostic capabilities during system operation. The authors propose a PHM Cycle that is divided into two parts, covering the design of the Autonomous PHM system and the operation of the PHM system in real-time application. The paper presents steps in design of Autonomous Prognostics and Health Management (APHM) developed using the above approach, to provide contingency management integrated with autonomous decision-making for power management on a UAV. APHM was developed using commercial software tools such as the JACK ® autonomous software platform to provide real-time intelligent decision making and MADe ® Maintenance Aware Design environment to identify risks due to equipment failures and to select appropriate sensor coverage. The PHM Cycle methodology is demonstrated in application to autonomous, real-time, engine health and power management on an Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV).